Chapman was tagged for five runs in less than an inning with the Louisville Bats Tuesday night. The Cincinnati Reds left-handed relief ace made his third major-league rehabilitation appearance but first with the Triple-A affiliate. He started and was scheduled to pitch only one inning.

Chapman threw hard, with four pitches reaching at least 100 mph and topping out at 101. But Chapman didn't fool the Norfolk batters, yielding four hits in two-thirds of an inning. He also threw a wild pitch and hit a batter. He threw 33 pitches with 21 for strikes.

"He said ... he's happy to be out there throwing again," Febles said. "His fastball was good. He didn't have the control tonight, but he still felt good physically."

According to Reds vice president Bill Bavasi, who was at the game, Chapman will likely pitch again Wednesday. The Cuban lefty will come out of the bullpen. Chapman pitched for the Bats in 2010 and made a rehab appearance in 2011.

On Tuesday, the first two batters – Steve Lombardozzi, and Iván DeJesús – singled up the middle on 98 mph pitches. Chapman was originally hurt on a spring training comebacker that hit him in the head, leading to surgery to fix a broken bone above his left eye.

"He didn't have any flashbacks or thoughts about it," Febles said. "It did go over his head, but it didn't hit him. He didn't have any ill thoughts about it."

Chapman struck out the third batter on an 88 mph breaking pitch. But then he hit Brett Wallace with a 101 fastball to load the bases.

Norfolk scored a run on a Chris Marrero groundout and it looked like Chapman might escape without further damage. But he walked a batter to load the bases again. Cord Phelps singled in a run and, after a wild pitch, Buck Britton doubled just past the outstretched glove of center fielder Kristopher Negron to score two more and make it 5-0 Norfolk.

That was it for Chapman, who was only expected to throw 25 pitches. He had one strikeout.

"He said he didn't have control of his fastball today," Febles said. "He didn't think about striking people out. He was just trying to locate his fastball."

After Chapman makes his second appearance with Louisville, he could rejoin the Reds soon.

"He feels like he's ready to go," Febles said. "He's got to throw a couple more innings, but the decision is up to the Reds."